House Hunters is one of HGTV’s most popular and longest standing shows. You’re bound to come across at least one version of the show when tuning into the network at any given moment. The reality series draws in roughly 25 million viewers on a monthly basis and because of its huge success it’s since created 20 spin-offs like House Hunters International, Houseboat Hunters, Island Hunters, House Hunters on Vacation and Tiny House Hunters — just to name a few. Here’s a look at 10 things you didn’t know about HGTV’s House Hunters!

10. Creators of the Show

House Hunters was created by the real life couple Tara Sandler and Jennifer Davidson. In an interview with Cosmopolitan, they explained how the idea of House Hunters came to be. They’d already started their own production company called Pie Town Productions and began producing some shows, but it wasn’t until they went looking for a home that they came up with the idea for a new show. “One day we went to this house and it was a mid-century modern, which we love, and was this very small house with a very big pool…We were like, ‘it’s not perfect, but it could be if we did this and that to it.’ We both looked at each other and said, ‘Wow, this is really stressful. This could be a really good idea for a show.’ So we decided, let’s go back to the office, and we’ll put in an offer in on the house, and we’ll write up a pitch and send it off. That’s how we created House Hunters,” said Sandler.

COURTESY OF JENNIFER DAVIDSON AND TARA SANDLER

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9. Slow Start

Similar to many other shows, it took a while for House Hunters to catch on, but once it did it had a snowball effect. It’s now one of HGTV’s biggest series with several spin-offs. They went from producing 13 to 26 episodes per year to up to 200 (that’s not including all the spin-offs)! Also back in 1998 reality TV was still a relatively new concept and they had to convince real estate agents to allow them to film their properties for five days for a 30-minute show. Today that’s never a problem because according to Sandler, people want to be on the show. They receive hundreds of applicants every week.